Economic Development

Bigger may not always be better when it comes to the size of a business park and its impact on the market. But the demand for large spaces is helping to fuel the steady recovery of the local commercial real estate scene.

If you’re looking for the epicenter of the Las Vegas Valley’s housing earthquake, consider the 5-mile stretch of the 215 Beltway from Rainbow Boulevard to Tropicana Avenue that real estate locals call “the curve.”

Rossi Ralenkotter, president and CEO of the organization that markets the city, told an audience at Preview 2015 on Friday that 45 million visitors will be the new benchmark and he expects to hit that “within the next few years.” If the goal is achieved, it would produce 37,000 new tourism industry jobs in Southern Nevada.

Economic development is in great shape in Nevada, but two leaders in the field say the state needs to continue to work to get a bigger slice of it to provide high-paying jobs and a diversified economy.

When Sweden-based furniture seller IKEA closed in late December on its purchase of 26 acres of land in southwest Las Vegas, it set a post-recession high for land deals of its type, local observers say.

Representatives of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development board on Thursday approved a series of economic incentives for Scientific Games and a subsidiary, Scientific Games Production, to defray costs of building a 40,000-square-foot soundstage for a set for “Monopoly Millionaires Club,” a nationally broadcast television game show.

Grand Bazaar Shops Las Vegas has an opening date for its Strip debut. The retail development across the Strip from the Bellagio fountains and near Bally’s Las Vegas, Paris Las Vegas, and The Cromwell includes 120 stores and a host of boutiques across two acres.

Switch company blueprints to build a $1 billion, 3 million square-foot data center near Reno made a splash as part of Gov. Brian Sandoval’s State of the State speech on Thursday. Perhaps less heralded was Switch’s equally sizable re-investment in its hometown, where a new $1 billion data storage site is set to get underway.

Bill Foley, the public face of an ownership group seeking to create an NHL team in Las Vegas, arrived in Las Vegas on Thursday, lunched with MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren at Bellagio, and then schmoozed with local leaders in hopes of drumming up at least 10,000 season ticket commitments for an NHL franchise.

A company now based in Henderson that manufactures organic fruit bars under the Trader Joe’s brand won approval Tuesday from the state Board of Finance to receive $4.2 million in bonds issued through the city of Henderson.

Tony Hsieh’s newest project in downtown Las Vegas is an urban trailer camping experience — or “living experiment” with community kitchen, campfires and “the world’s largest living room.” The Zappos.com CEO/Downtown Project founder and friends are using the legendary Airstream trailers on a 1-acre site on East Fremont Street as their laboratory.